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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23011951">Don’t just aim to win. Aim to kick their teeth in.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rowwlet/pseuds/Rowwlet'>Rowwlet</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Destiny (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Awkward Crush, Awkward Flirting, Awoken Guardian (Destiny) - Freeform, Cayde-6 Being Cayde-6 (Destiny), Crucible (Destiny), Eventual Relationships, Game: Destiny: The Taken King DLC, Human Shaxx (Destiny), Mars, Mischief, One of My Favorites, Outer Space, Slow Build, Slow Burn, The Tower (Destiny), Vex (Destiny) - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:48:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,689</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23011951</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rowwlet/pseuds/Rowwlet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Small, self-indulgent story for my OC, nothing special. We all love Shaxx here. Takes place around/before beginning of first game's missions, goes from there.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Guardian/Shaxx (Destiny)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Cosmodrome, Old Russia, 750km above Earth</p><p> </p><p>"DAMNIT!" GH-117 poked their head around the door frame to the back of her Guardian's ship just in time to see and dodge wrench that was flying across the room, presumably thrown by the Awoken. The violet-haired female was in the middle of the tiny storage room with her back to the door, long legs splayed out in front of her, a scattered array of tools, sand and metal bits all around. "Having issues?" the little bot quipped, her tone casually flat with sarcasm. Alma looked over her shoulder, glowing yellow eyes and skin flickering in the dim lights, giving the Ghost a dirty look before turning back to the oily piece of metal that had once been the cooling unit of her ship, "Stupid thing's completely busted, it'll need a new filter and probably a complete overhaul before we head out to Mars ever again.." with a sigh, she wiped her hands off on an extra rag and reached into her pocket, pulling out a cigarette from the pack before putting it between her teeth and using the small hand torch to light it. 17 let out a mock groan, rolling her lighted 'eye' at Alma before floating into the room and landing on a shelf nearby, "You do know you're not supposed to smoke in a ship right? Not to mention those things'll kill you." The Guardian let out a scoff and laughed, "Yeah, along with all of the Vex and the Fallen and the Hive and Cabal that'll do it in the same day," she leaned back on her hands with an indignant snort, the cigarette in the corner of her mouth making a small smoke trail, "it's really a bit hard to worry with something like getting sick when you spend a good portion of your time being shot at and revived, right Squeaky?" The Ghost huffed at the nickname, her sides spinning a bit when she lifted back up and moving down to rest on her Guardian's shoulder. "You've got to stop calling me that," she grumbled, looking over her guardian's face with a slightly amused look. Her blue skin had a few streaks of motor oil on it, presumably from her reaching up to scratch her nose or cheek as she worked, making the already huffy female look that much more defeated.</p><p> </p><p>With a sigh, she leaned back up, resting her elbows on her thigh and looking towards the front of the ship, out of the windshield and towards The Tower, her hand absently coming up to the chain around her neck. Squeaky blinked at the view for a moment before glancing down, "You're doing it again," she remarked, motioning towards the pendant Alma was working between her fingers when she gave her a confused look, "it's almost like you miss 'im," the ghost said teasingly. Alma grumbled irritably, reaching over to flick at her Ghost before shaking her head, face heating up a bit too much for comfort, "It's nothing like that." Floating out of her reach, Squeaky tilted their body one way then the other before floating towards the cockpit of the ship, "You've been avoiding going back to the Tower for over a week now, is it because you pilfered his necklace or because of what Cayde said afterwards?" Letting out another sigh, Alma snuffed out the half burnt cigarette and clambered to her feet, not even bother to look towards to little bot. Seemingly annoyed, she flew straight at the Guardian and right in front of her face, "You know I'm right, I don't even need our link to know WHY you've been avoiding home for almost the better part of a week and a half, even with the cooling unit on the fritz, you know damn well that Miss Holiday could fix that in no ti- what?!" Now covered with a oil-soaked rag, GH-117 floated in a stunned silence for a moment before turning in the direction she could hear Alma moving in. She was pacing in the small space, twisting her fingers around one another, it was pretty true, actually, she had stol.. erm 'borrowed' Shaxx's necklace on a dare from Cayde, leading to a very nervous day before leaving for a mission.</p><p> </p><p>Cayde'sthe worst and best friend to have, he always finds a way to get you in on pranks and usually sneaks away just before the trouble starts. The damned Exo had pointed out that the Titan oftentimes took the necklace off when he was busy looking over the new stock of weapons the Crucible got every week, then bet her a thousand Glimmer that she didn't have the metaphorical balls to sneak up and take it from him.. which led to a few moments of pondering on her side and Squeaky whispering that it was a horrible deal and Shaxx would probably throw her off the Tower if she tried, before she looked over to the Vanguard and telling to make it two thousand and it'd be a deal. The next morning, before anyone other then the vendors arrived, before the Crucible opened and the events for the day started, the new stock came in, and just as Cayde had said, the one-horned Titan almost got his pendant caught on the scope of one of the new guns, then removed it and placed it on the table behind him. It was her best chance, so she motioned for 117 to stay by the edge of the stairs and out of sight, then silently crept towards the table, letting the invisibility from her Light take effect. When she got to the edge of his station, she carefully slipped beneath the first table's cloth, doing her best not to disturb it and moved to the back table directly behind him. She could hear him muttering to himself, noting down the stock numbers and types of guns as he went. Keeping a watch on his legs, Alma slowly reached up and grasped the chain, pulling it gingerly towards herself, dully aware that the noise of someone tapping on the data pads had slowed then ceased. With a small tug, she nabbed the trinket then quickly, quietly, shuffled back to the safety of the top of the stairs. "So?" Squeaky looked over at her once she had settled down on a high branch of the large tree next to Banshee's shop. Alma let out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding, then giggled as she held up the necklace. The Ghost let out a small groan before shaking it's self, "You really are a mess, you know that?"</p><p>A few hours ticked by before Cayde came out from the hangar of the Tower, presumably to also avoid running into the Crucible leader. Half-jogging up to him, he tilted his head in a rather innocent manner and put his hands on his hips, "Sooooo Guardian?" he drawled, eyes lighting up. "I might have something you'd like to see," she quipped, smirking as she reached into the neck of her armor and pulling out the necklace just enough to prove it was indeed Lord Shaxx's own pendant, to which the blue Exo's mouth hung open, orange light spilling out dimly. "Holy crap," he shouted, immediately covering his mouth with both hands as few early morning people turned to look in their direction and leaning to her, "he's going to be so pissed you know," he loud whispered, peeking over from where they were to the entrance of the Vanguard meeting room for a moment before turning back and examining the chain. After a moment of apparent thought, he let out a interested hum, "Althouuuuggghh," he said, turning to look over at Alma again, the corners of his mechanical mouth slyly turning up, "it could also just be that he let you take it, since you're his buddy and all.." He was always picking on her these days about Shaxx, in some form or fashion. The Hunter had started a conversation with the Tower hero about that weeks' pulse rifle stock a few months back and had ended up sticking around hours after the Crucible had ended for the night to talk with him. Cayde, being Cayde and a nosy little shit, had found out, interrupted and started poking fun at them before very quickly running out of the room when the large Titan had began to move from behind the table between them. After that, any time he saw the two of them talking about anything but Crucible, and even sometimes when that was what they were discussing, he'd make it a point to make things as awkward as he possibly could. Stumbling over her words a few times, her face turned a hazy shade of pinkish purple and she shook her head at the Exo like a madwoman, all the while making the other Hunter hold his sides in laughter, she finally stammered out for him to hand over the glimmer he owed her and half-stomped off to go buy some breakfast.</p><p> </p><p>Alma grumbled to herself, the memory annoying her at how flustered she got from such a simple comment. It was a few hours later from then that she was she was called into the Vanguard's meeting room over the PA system. She had walked past the Crucible's station, slightly relieved to see that Shaxx wasn't there, the station being ran by his Red Jacks. Zavala was the first to speak up once she came in, greeting her as cordially as always before motioning to a space on the map, Venus. It was a simple in and out mission, go in, take care of some Vex that were messing up a colony's life support system out there and come back. It had barely taken her three days. The rest of it, she had mainly spent either exploring Venus and sketching out scouting maps to bring back to Cayde or, in the case for the past few days, hanging out in Earth's orbit. "You're doing it again," 117 said flatly, having to have gotten out from under the rag when she was lost in thought. Looking down at her hands, she sighed. Sometime in her absent fidgeting, she had pulled the necklace out of her tank top again, aimlessly running her fingers along the stylized horns of the pendant. "Okay, that's it," she said, sounding much louder in the small space then she anticipated, "we're going home Squeaks, set the course for the Tower."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>We get to the Tower, time to do our best to avoid a certain big, one horned Titan.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They had about half an hour before her ship would be docked in the Hanger, so after Squeaky set the course, Alma had taken a quick shower, yelling at her Ghost to remind her that the hot water heater for the ship was acting up and to talk to Amanda about it. The reply from the bot was a roll of her 'eye’ and to turn off the ship’s hot water entirely, leaving the Guardian running out of the cramped space with a string of curses. “Hurry up and get dressed, we'll be there in fifteen,” 17 snipped, looking at the panel, then turning to the Awoken just in time to see her shimmying into a pair of baggy jeans, “not going to wear your armor?” Alma shrugged, fumbling with the wide belt she was putting on, “Nah, I'm probably already going to be getting a lecture from Zavala for taking so long to get back, might as well be comfortable while I'm there, not to mention I want to head into the city and check out that new dumpling shop Cayde was talking about.” The ghost let out a sigh, shaking itself a bit, “You're going to run into him when we get there, you know that, right?" she said, watching her pull a clean, dark green tank top over her head and wrestle her hair into a loose ponytail. “Yeah.. probably..” she mumbled, reaching over to the shelf next to her cot where she had placed the Crucible handler's necklace, running her thumb over the stylized horns for a moment before putting the chain over her head. She was just pulling her boots on when the ship's panel pinged in an incoming message, "This is Amanda Holliday with the Tower's engineering, is that you Ma'?" Alma grinned at Holliday's drawl, reaching over to the panel and tapping the comm's button, "Yep, it's me," there was a bit of static and and the sound of Holliday whistling through her teeth, "Man, your ship took one hell of a beating leaving Venus, didn't it? Just put her in Dock 7 and I'll give her a look, Holliday out." While her Guardian was reaching down to tie her boots, 17 floated over and altered the ship's system to it's specific coordinates, "Reaching the Tower now, three minutes until we're docked." The Awoken sighed, straightening and standing as she moved across the ship to get the charts and engrams she'd acquired ready.</p><p> </p><p>As the ship slowed and entered the hangar, Alma peeked through the front windshield of it, seeing that it was only Holliday and a few of the Tower's frames, before stepping off the ship as it finished docking. She could feel a knot of dread in her stomach, there were so many reasons for her being chewed out by one member of the Tower or another that she considered getting back on her ship for a moment and just flying away again. "Ey Alma, where've you been?" Amanda chirped, leaning over to give the shorter female a quick half hug before eyeing her ship, "you've missed all of the fun, Cayde rigged the Tower's PA to play that damned Rack Roll song and it took hours to rewire everything and then a few hours later, some Warlocks got into a spat and one accidently warped himself into a wall and got stuck in the air, half hanging off the scaffolding. But then we ad' Shaxx in here a few days ago, thunderin' around, was looking for you but Cayde told him you were out and comms were down." 'Thank the Traveler', she thought, being fairly certain the Striker would've stolen a ship and hunted her down if the Exo had give specifics to her location. "I think it's Rick Roll, but that pretty much sounds like Cayde," she said, the worrying knot in her stomach forgotten. Looking over to the other female's ship, Amanda's nose crinkled, another whistle coming from between her teeth, "Geez, ya think you could be a little less rough on the goods hon?" Alma snorted jokingly, "Yeah, we hit a few rocks on our way out, that and there's some things going wrong, water heater's on the fritz and the cooling unit is uh.. well it may be in a few dozen pieces.." she grinned sheepishly, scratching the scar on the side of her neck and rocking on her boot heels. The blonde gave her a horrified look then turned to the ship, "WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU DO YOU TO - ALMAGETBACKHERE!" As she had turned around to look, Alma jogged off at a brisk pace, "Sorry 'Manda, got to go deliver my reports and all, I'll catch up with you later!" she called over her shoulder, hearing Amanda throwing swears at her even as she left the hangar and entered the Tower's main plaza.</p><p> </p><p>Taking a deep breath of the cool morning air around her, the Guardian grinned the Ghost, floating just above her shoulder, "Well? What's on the list Squeaks?" Squeaky hummed in response, the pointed edges of her shell whirling about for a moment, "First and foremost, you've got to deliver your report to the Vanguard and we may as well drop off those maps to Cayde while we're there.. then you've got five encrypted engrams, three blues and a couple purples that we need Master Rahool to look at, then.." as 17 continued, Alma crinkled her nose at the mention of Rahool, the old Cryptarch gave her the willies, something about him was always just.. off, "you said you wanted to get food?" Shaking her head, she looked at her ghost blankly, "What? Oh, yeah, anything besides MREs sounds pretty good." GH-117 let out a loud groan, rolling the light of her eye dramatically before turning to her Guardian, "That's on you, we could've returned five days ago, you're the one who sat in the ship sulking." "I wasn't sulking.." she mumbled sourly, her face turning into a small pout, "I was thinking." The little bot let out a short, flat laugh, "Oh, I'm sure, all those thoughts muddled around with a tall, one horned ti- mmppphh?" Not letting her finish the sentence, Alma put her hand over the bot's eye and pushed her down a bit to muffle her speech, "and you're doing it -again-," Squeaky replied, her voice muffled. She was, once again, fumbling with the horns on the necklace, dropping it suddenly with a sigh, she huffed and started towards the stairs of the Vanguard's hall.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Hall of Guardians was always impressive, the rich coloring and vaulted ceilings above made the whole place feel endless at times. Hopping down the last few stairs, Alma nodded her head briefly to Eris, who was busy examining something with a rather stout male Warlock she didn't recognize. Not that it was unusual to see new Guardians, there had been a little bit of a spurt of Ghosts finally finding their chosen lately, meaning new faces and fresh meat to be trained out in the fields and in the Crucible. She flinched slightly at the thought of the Crucible, warily eyeing the booth where it's Handler was stationed. She could hear Shaxx talking to a group of Titans, about what she was not sure, but it sounded like they had some sort of dispute with the prizes with their match. "It's a luck of the draw Guardian, you have the same chance for a new weapon as the next.." she could hear him explaining that the prizes were completely random, but it was a perfect opportunity to get past without being noticed. Quickly slipping past the group of arguing titans, only Arcite seemed to notice her as she moved past, giving her a small wave before returning to their panel. As she entered the main hall, she grinned, things never seemed to change around here, Zavala was checking over charts, the dim light from the telepad reflecting off of his armor, Ikora was busily flipping through pages of an old Golden Aged book, then there was the Hunter's Vanguard, Cayde, the blue bot was half slumped over his charts on the table, head turned so his horn wouldn't muss the sheets of paper. "Guuuuhhhhh" he groaned, turning his head to Zavala, "it's too early, can't we take a moment to walk around outside and get some breakfast?" The large Awoken chuckled, tilting his head in the Exo's direction, "Cayde, it's nine in the morning. You've only been here two hours and you were almost half an hour late in the first place, why didn't you stop for breakfast then?" Cayde huffed, stomping his feet a bit, "I slept through my alarm and Sundance is still a bit mad at me for that thing in the Hanger so.." he sighed, turning suddenly and sitting up as Alma came into the room. "Heeyy Buddy, long time no see," he waved at the female Awoken, walking over towards her, "whatcha got for us?"</p><p> </p><p>Alma shifted from one foot to another, all three of the Vanguard heads were looking at her and she knew that she was in trouble for disappearing for days without even a single notice. "Well Guardian?" Ikora quipped pointedly, tilting her head slightly. "Ehem, the outpost on Venus has been successfully defended, there was a number of Vex in the area who were after the water purifier and air filtration systems. We arrived on the requested site at around 0600 and began.." before she could begin, Squeaky had already given them the entire briefing of the mission, earning a nod or two from the Titan and Warlock Vanguards before they spoke again, "That's good Guardian, please finish typing your report of the mission log and have it ready by the end of the day," Ikora said, giving the little Ghost a smile before returning to her work. Letting out a quick sigh of relief, she smiled and gave them a quick nod before moving over to Cayde. "Another thing Guardian," Zavala cut in as she opened her mouth to speak with Cayde about the charts, "Y-yessir?" The other Awoken took a step towards her, leaning down slightly to look her in the eyes, "Please avoid going off and disappearing from comms again in the future, it could create some problems within the Tower," he said, mouth pursed in a small frown. "Yessir.." she nodded, head ducking slightly, she knew they'd have something to say about it, she was just surprised there wasn't more to his speech then a "Don't Do That Again" sort of thing. Cayde threw his arm over her shoulders, earning her attention back from her sulking, "Sooo Alma, my ol' pal, ya got anything for your bestest of best friends?" he smirked, bright blue-lit eyes wide. She laughed, walking to his charts and out of the way of the rest of the Vanguard's business and looking over to her Ghost, "We may have managed to get you a few sheets made up while we were out there," she said as three rolls of paper appeared in her hand. "You're the best," he grinned snatching up the papers from her, "I almost feel bad for making fun of you flirting with 'Mr. Tall-Horned and Angry'. Sputtering for a moment and turning a shade of lavender from nose to neck, she glared at the Exo before giving him a shove in the shoulder, "I am not flirting with him,"  half whispering, half hissing, she gave him a sour look before looking at the entryway, "and here I was going to offer to bring you back some dumplings from Gonzos." The other Hunter snickered, "Hey hey now, don't take it seriously, I'd really, reeeaaalllyyyy, love some pork dumplings, extra sauce." Rolling her eyes, she sighed and nodded, waving him off as she moved towards the Plaza. Half-engrossed in her thoughts, she hardly registered that 17 had stopped floating beside her before she bumped square into a sudden wall of metal. "Oof, sorry, I didn't see yo..." Alma started to apologize before she stopped, finally noticing that she hadn't bumped into a wall, it was someone's chest armor... Someone's wide.. white and orange painted chest armor. "Uhhh.." she stammered, looking up at the horned Titan looming over her. "Hunter," Shaxx started briskly, arms crossing over his chest, "you have something of mine."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm pretty tired these days, but if people like this, I'll try to get the energy to update this more then every once in a very blue moon.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Oh shit, we got caught.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Letting out a nervous chuckle, Alma put her hands up slightly, palms frontwards. "Heh-Hey Big Guy," she cracked, taking a couple small steps back so she could look up at the Titan without breaking her neck, "whatcha up to?" Broad and imposing, the Crucible announcer stood at almost seven foot -before- the horn, meaning that the poor Awoken barely reached the middle of his chest. Without a word, Shaxx took half a step forward, filling the space that she had put between them and causing the purple haired female to take a couple more steps back while she quickly dismayed in the realization that one of her back steps had turned and put her back against the wall and into a rather secluded portion of the hall. Lowering his arms from his chest, he leaned forward putting a wide palm against the panel by her head and bending down so that they were almost eye level with each other. "Alma.. You have something of mine," he repeated, toned clipped and hushed, which was somehow more unsettling than the usual volume he stayed at. She gawped at the horned goliath mutely, mouth opening and closing a few times like a grounded carp before she regained the wits to say anything. "O..oh right, your necklace.." she said, hand reaching up to settle on the chain at her neck, "I ah, found it the other day before I left for Venus." Threading her finger between the chain and her skin, she lifted the piece of jewelry up so the pendant became visible, "I meant to get it back to you before I left but.. well.." she let out a sharp gasp as the announcer leaned lower suddenly, bringing his masked visage mere inches from her face. Shaxx let out a small, humourless chuckle, "Is that so, Miss Song?" as he spoke, the fingers of his free hand reached out, tentatively wrapping around the girl's much smaller hand and the chain she was still holding, "because I seem to recall the most peculiar sight of you and a certain blue, overly loud, Exo having a chat just a short while before I started the day's inventory count." </p><p>Alma's ears and face was burning, the Titan had never gotten this close to her in the few months that they had been regularly talking, hell, he had barely ever came from behind his work table most days. "W..well.. I.. uh.." she stammered, shaking her head a bit. She was cut short when the male's grip on the chain tightened, "You're good at sneaking about, aren't you Hunter?" he all but whispered, "had I not seen you two talking before, I never would have thought to keep a sense out for your light and it's invisibility. It was a dare, was it not? Or was it a slip of judgement and you went back to your old ways?" Her eyes widened slightly, she was caught and that much was apparent, but him being damn near pressed against her was making it hard to think straight and come up with an answer. Yes, she could just spill the proverbial beans and say it was all Cayde's idea, but that seemed cruel to throw him under the ship. On the other hand, he -knew- she had snuck up behind him and nabbed the keepsake and very well could see it fit to have her title as a Guardian revoked. </p><p>"You know.." he half-whispered, head tilting just a bit closer, the metal of his helmet brushing her nose, "it's almost as if.." as he started his theory, there was a sound of metallic footsteps approaching. "Lord Shaxx, it is 09:25, the second Crucible is about to start, scheduling code 88.6-12, 09:30, Rusted Lands, Control," Arcite had approached them with little regards to the situation that was unfolding. With a rather loud huff, Shaxx straightened and looked over to the frame, hands still in place, "All, right, begin the match, I'll be there shortly," he said, his voice returning to it's usual volume and tone as though he hadn't just spent the last few minutes having Alma all but pinned to the wall. Turning back to the smaller Awoken, he stared silently for what seemed like almost an eternity, leaving her to shift uncomfortably under his gaze, before letting go of her hand and taking a step back. "Miss Song," he murmured, just loud enough for Alma to hear, "I expect my pendant will find it's way to my desk before the end of the day, are we clear?" Her eyes wide, the Awoken stammered a few unintelligible starts of a word before snapping her mouth shut and nodding. Letting out a chuckle, he reached out again, his glove brushing the errant strands of her hair by her flaming ears, "Good." With that, the horned Titan turned on his heels and sauntered away, leaving Alma to blink owlishly at the empty air in front of her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Holy shite, sorry for the delay to everyone that has been keeping track of this. It's been a helluva year and my writer's block has been awful (actually I've been staring at this chapter for months and still feel like it's shit but hey) Thank you everyone who has left kudos or bookmarked this, I don't deserve it.<br/>I'll try to get better at working on the chapters.<br/>At any rate, I've had a few people ask me about how Alma looks, so here is her profile with some artwork: https://toyhou.se/2434101.alma-song</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Not much going on, bits of world building.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It all started off innocently enough, just doing jobs here and there to survive, a boost here, a bounty hunt there. It wasn't her fault the job was botched from the start. Okay, maybe she -<em>should</em>- have read the fine print, but the job seemed easy and the glimmer was too good to pass up. It wasn't her fault, they set her up, how was she supposed to kno- "You're going to get fat, you know," 117 said dryly, watching her disgruntled guardian pop another of Gonzo's crab rangoons into her mouth as she stared blankly into space, "there's no way you should weigh less then half a ton with all that junk you eat." Swallowing hard, Alma stopped mid chew to tilt her head towards the little bot, "Metabolism of a Dreg," she cracked, " 'sides, I've only had four." The ghost bobbed in the air a few times before floating down onto the table, "Correction, four plus a dozen, you've been sitting there and eating while you were staring into space," she paused, eye flashing dimly a few times, "you were thinking about it again, weren't you? There's no sense in dwelling over something that happened almost a century ago, you know." The hunter sighed as she closed the fried snack's box, shaking her head as her fingers tapped idly. She knew that, Traveler knows she fucking <em>knew</em> there was nothing to be gained from it. But sometimes it just ekes out from the back of her mind, worming it's way to the surface and reminding her that deep down, despite all of the work she's done and will continue to do as a Guardian, she wasn't shit. <em>"Or was it a slip of judgement and you went back to your old ways?"</em> Shaxx's question echoed in her head again, it stung, probably why he said it in the first place. "You're doing it again Alma," her ghost said, once again floating in front of the Awoken, "this morning's little rendezvous still have you all bothered?" She sighed through her nose before dropping the necklace and running her hand down her face, it had taken nearly an hour for her heart to finally stop hammering like it was going to explode after he cornered her.. Her azure skin immediately flushed into a bright lilac again at the thought of the pure proximity of him, much less the rough, hushed way he had chided her for the prank and the way his hand had dwarfed her own.. "<strong>AHEM</strong>," Alma let out an undignified squawk of surprise, turning quickly on the barstool she was sitting on to come face to face with Master Rahool. The older male had been standing behind her and apparently gotten tired of watching her go down her mental rabbit hole. "There you are Guardian," he said, tone loud and slightly exasperated, "I was beginning to think we'd have to call ground control to try and bring you back." She stammered a quick apology, standing up immediately. Nodding, Rahool held out an engram towards the other Awoken, "I was going to return this to you when you returned to the Hall, but since we've crossed paths here, you might as well have it. Quite an interesting find, it's not everyday an engram gives me such trouble." Hefting the glowing mass into her hands, he gave a small nod and walked away, quickly disappearing into the crowd. Looking down, she frowned at the ball of glow for a moment, waiting for it's name to appear. After a moment, the words 'Kabr's Brazen Grips' surfaced among the swirls of gold, "Oh? Titan's gauntlets?" GH chirped, hovering close to the engram in her Hunter's hand, "lot of good that's going to do you, exotic or not." Alma sighed again, turning it over in her hand a few times before putting it in her pack, "Yeahh, well, maybe someone else wants it," she said, picking up her box of rangoon and the bag of dumplings for Cayde next to it, "I'll post it in the market and see who bites when we get back." She gave the little light a grin, "Let's head back then, you know how Cayde gets when he's hungry." 117 rolled her faceplate dramatically, "Brattier then usual?" With a laugh, the pair started to work their way through the lunch rush's crowd. 

After a stop to the marketplace to list the engram's contents on the public platform, Alma leaned back against the Tower's elevator, head resting against the cool metal wall for a moment before closing her eyes, " It's already been such a long day Squeaks.." The ghost hummed in affirmation, "We've only been back for a bit over four hours," she stated, resting on top of the Awoken's head, "we've gotten everything done, for the most part, just have to give Cayde the food and bring that necklace back to your looov-" "<em>Don't</em> you finish that sentence," she huffed, cracking open one glowing eye and reaching up to flick at the tiny bit as the machine slowed and the doors opened. "Why? It was just getting to the good part it seems." It took a brief moment for the dots to connect, there was no way the universe could be this cruel to her twice in one day, could it? Tilting her head over, she finally realized why the elevator had stopped. There, just inside the elevator and hefting a duffle bag of what she could only assume was weapons or ammunition over one shoulder as of it were just a bag of laundry, was the damned announcer of the Crucible himself. She had forgotten that the Crucible took a small break around lunch for Guardians and staff to reset the fields and restock supplies. How could she forget something so important when she was trying her best to avoid the Titan. She could go days, <em>weeks even</em>, without being seen while scouting enemy territory out in the world, but now here in front of her was the <em>one</em> single person she was trying to stay away from. His helmet tilted to horn side down and the other hand on his hip, she could hear the wide grin in his voice as he stepped further into the small compartment, turning and pressing the button for the Vanguard Halls before moving the few steps to stand directly in front of her, "Go ahead, little light, what was it you were saying?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>First chapter post of 2021 (would've been sooner but the world was kinda on fire earlier this week) I'm really sorry and thankful to everyone who is trying to keep up with this story, I promise I'll try to update more often.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Well, Little Light?"</p><p>Squeaky floated into the air a few inches above her guardian's head, sides spinning for half a moment, "Well, I was saying that she has to return the necklace to her loo-" <em>'Don't you fucking <strong>dare</strong>.'</em> "-oovely titan companion before we check the patrol boards." <em>'Nice save.'</em> Letting out a hum of apparent approval, the titan stepped to one side of the small space, dropping the bag easily with a loud thump, causing the cab to sway slightly after he turned to hit the button for the top floor. The metal box shuddered and came to life with a soft mechanical hum, filling the air between the two guardians with muted silence. Alma shifted nervously from foot to foot, inspecting a small tear in the thigh of her jeans and setting down the box of food next to her, trying her best to not look towards the Striker through the corner of her eyes. He really was impressive to look at, tall, broad, imposing even, but he still manag- <em>'Keep it up and you'll start drooling in a second, <strong>Miss Song</strong>.' </em></p><p>
  <em>'<strong>PFFTTGETTHEFUCKOUTOFMYHEAD</strong>'</em>
</p><p><em>'You're doing it again, Alma.'</em> Mentally cursing the small bot and their shared link, she quickly untangled her fingers from the chain around her neck, glancing sideways towards Shaxx, who was quietly leaning against the right side wall, head tilted back and his arms across his chest, seemingly resting his eyes as the minutes of silence stretched on. She sighed quietly through her nose, leaning her head back to the cool metal wall again. "Miss Song," he said suddenly, barely loud enough for the Hunter to hear over the sounds of the elevator, but still loud enough for the Awoken to give a small start before tilting her head in his direction, "I was actually going to pull you aside when you stopped by this afternoon." Her brow furrowing slightly, she gave him a quizzical look before turning further in his direction. He straightened to look towards her, shifting his weight as he rested a boot on the wall, "What I said this morning, it was out of line. I know just as much as the rest of the Vanguard that you've paid your dues for what happened, with interest." Alma shifted, hands unconsciously intertwining and picking at the sleeves of her jacket, "It's fine," she murmured quietly after a moment, "I can see where people could think I'd go back to that sort of thing sometimes.. and I did disappear for a little while after that.. besides, it's not like I don't deser- mmh?!"</p><p>"Don't. You. Dare."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Aaah, I managed two chapters in one month.. I almost feel accomplished. Sorry if this chapter is short, but the next one is probably (already looking like it'll be) going to be suuuper long ; -;</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Some backstory and some up close and personal time with a certain Titan.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In an instant, Shaxx had closed the space between them, his chest pressing her back into the wall, a gloved hand pressed against her mouth and his free arm resting just above her head. Glowing eyes wide, she looked up at him with bewilderment, her arms staying limp at her side as she didn't dare to struggle beneath him. "You do not deserve any of that, Alma, not in the least," he stated, his face so close to her own that she could actually feel the heat radiating from his helmet, "you've done so much for the Tower, done so much <em>good</em> in the past eighty years, you've paid with your body and blood, stop thinking that you are not worthy of the title." Alma shifted, she could feel tears trying to pinprick the corners of her eyes, but she wasn't going to allow herself to cry here, <em>any-fucking-where</em> but here and now. She blinked hurriedly, flicking her eyes away to the side as his hand on her mouth loosened, "I deserve it because <em>I</em> could have done more, I could have read the fine print, figured out what would happen to that colony if I stole the piece they were asking for," she replied shakily, "but I didn't, all I cared about was that the job was easy and the glimmer was good. All of those people died because-" Shaxx's grip on her mouth tightened again, "Because they <em>lied</em> to you, <em>used</em> a lost Light with a broken ghost and no way of knowing what kind of power she really had," he interrupted, his free hand balling into a fist, "you didn't even know you were immortal, you spent so many years without any knowledge as to why you were brought back to life or who and what you even were. You did not know that 117 could bring you back, you did not know that you were chosen by the Light, you were just surviving the best you could." Shifting his weight back some, the Titan loosened his grip again, hesitantly bringing his hand from the wall to lightly trace the deep scar that ran along Alma's neck, starting from behind her ear and trailing it down to the front of her throat, causing her to swallow hard on the lump she was trying to control, "You fought so hard when the shooting started, you came back to that place, fought against the Fallen for them, you nearly died without knowing that you would come back.." he murmured, putting more pressure on the old wound, the warmth of his gloves seeping into her skin, "the fireteam they sent didn't even know you were one of us until they found your ghost in your pack, when we found you bleeding to death under some rubble.. the poor thing must have been pretty damaged, even before it revived you, couldn't even tell you it's name or what to do next." She unconsciously tilted her head back slightly, giving his hand more room against her skin, "I.. didn't even know she could talk, the only noises she ever made were small squeaks and blips, no words, even with our link, it wasn't until she was fixed, after the Vanguard found us, that I had any idea.." Alma sighed, leaning into his palm, her eyes closing, "even after the Vanguard patched me up and explained what was going on, what I was and everything, I didn't believe them, I thought I was going to be locked in jail to rot for the rest of my life.. even when Cayde came in and fluke me that my abilities weren't some kind of mistake, it wasn't until 117 made me sit down and listen.."</p><p> </p><p>"I do not know how I can make you understand," Shaxx said quietly head coming down to rest his forehead the top of her head while his other hand settling on her shoulder, "you say such horrible things sometimes.. and it just.." Alma sighed before tentatively reaching up to put her palms against the Titan's chest, "Like I said, it's okay, I-" "You don't," he interrupted again, voice firm. Straightening some, his hand left her shoulder and moved under her jaw, tilting the much smaller Hunter's face towards him before using his thumb to wipe at the tears that had been collecting before gently stroking her cheek. Nuzzling into his hand for a brief moment, Alma turned her eyes up towards the metal covered visage, the quiet moment ever expanding before he sighed through what sounded like his nose. "Alma, I.. ah, well," he started, fingers twitching against the skin of her throat, "what I mean is.." The world around her seemed to have slowed and halted with him this close to her, she was scarcely aware of anything else but the uncharacteristically timid sounding Titan in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to try and finish his statement with her own.</p><p> </p><p>"Well, WELL, this is certainly -not- where I thought I'd find you two." Blinking wildly, it took a moment for Alma's brain to regain any sort of use, because there's just no way for this day to get any worse, right? In a half second, Shaxx's warm weight was off of her as he quickly stepped back and turned to the door. There in the doorway of the elevator was a certain, overly loud, blue Exo. He stood there, arms crossed and a wide, cocky grin on his faceplate, "Oh, this is just too cuuuuuuute. Don't let me interrupt your good time, you were saying something Big Guy?" Before she could say anything or even fully look in his direction, the giant Titan leaned down, scooping up the burdensome bag of gear and stormed out of the small space, shoving past Cayde and into the lower hangar's floor. "Oh uh.. I interrupted something important, didn't I?" quipped the other Hunter, looking a few times at the flushed Awoken and the retreating back of the Tower hero. He was around the corner and out of sight within moments of the door opening, not even sparing the two Hunters a second glance. Gaping at the Exo a few times in pure bewilderment, Alma leaned back against the wall again and took a long, deep breath, "Cayde, why the hell are you like this?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fuckin hell, this was a long chapter (it was longer but my overly obsessive editing helped that) Anywho, sorry if this was too long. I was torn between making two half chapters or just doing one big one.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cayde's still a butt. But he means well.. probably.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Why the are you like this?" Alma sighed, running a hand down her bright lavender coloured face before glaring at Exo. "<em>Whaaaat</em>?" He cried, hitting the button to close the door and get the elevator moving, "All I did was show up, it's not my fault you two were having a little moment in the service eleva-" The Awoken's other hand shot up, a finger raised at the metallic ceiling to interrupt him, "We <em>weren't</em>, we were just tal-"</p><p>"Oh it looked like you guys were doing a <em><strong>biiit</strong></em> more then 'just talking', like a lot more, really... Like if I hadn't had popped up you two were gonna ki-"</p><p>"It was just talking until you made it awkward, ass," she snapped, visibly becoming annoyed with the Hunter, after a moment, she let out a sigh, "it.. everything was fine.." With an somewhat indignant scoff, Cayde shrugged and moved in to lean against the wall beside her, "Okay, okay, <em>fine</em>, keep your secrets," he crossed his arms over his chest, letting the silence linger in the air for a few beats before pushing off the wall and leaning again the still huffy Awoken, "Buuutt anyway, I was on my way to the bar, since you're free, wanna hang for a bit?" Giving him an annoyed glare for a moment, Alma snorted and pinched the bridge of her nose before looking over to the blue menace she called her friend, "Yeah.. alright, I don't have anywhere to be for a while anyways.. but you owe me a drink." Cayde grinned, giving the other Hunter a few pats on the back, "That's the spirit, a few drinks and you'll forget all about Mr. Tall-dark-and-handso-"</p><p>"Do <strong>not</strong> press your luck," she interjected, shooting him a glare, "or I'm leaving and taking your dumplings with me... What are you doing down here anyways, hiding from duty again are we?" She gave him a small smirk, leaning down to pick up the steaming bag of food. " Of course he is," chirped a voice behind Cayde's shoulder, "Zavala sent him out of the hall to deliver some paperwork to the hangar and then ended up hanging out down there for a few hours." Sundance peeked out from behind their guardian, floating up to rest with the other ghost that had come back and settled on Alma's head. "Not <em><strong>hours</strong></em>," he groaned, "just a little side trip to go say hi to some people." "Which took exactly two hours and twenty minutes," the tiny bot retorted, blinking at him. "So yes," she snickered, cheering up some finally and handing the bag to him. "Oooh, there's even some rangoon in here!" Shuffling through the bag excitedly, the Exo grinned over to his companion, "you're the best, yaknow that?" Alma scoffed, closing her eyes and leaning back against the wall again while Cayde talked excitedly for the rest of the ride.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm really sorry if the last few (or all) chapters have been boring, I keep staring at my notepad and kinda can't stand any of my writing lately.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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